Mayo Clinic begins $1B rollout of Epic EHR

Mayo Clinic has a $1 billion plan to implement Epic’s electronic health record and billing system across all its entire health system by the end of 2018. The implementation began July 8 at Mayo’s Franciscian Healthcare in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Epic’s home state.

Tim Johnson, MD, a regional vice president for Mayo, told the La Crosse Tribune Wisconsin was chosen because the state “Wisconsin is not too big, and not too small, so we can learn.” He said the new system had experienced no major glitches through its first few days of operation.

Epic will be replacing three separate EHRs currently used by Mayo. The system’s 51,000 employees will have to be trained on the new system, but when the rollout is complete, Johnson said the unified EHR will greatly improve communication between facilities.